I actually had my first full game today, two of us and it took over 6 hours?

Anyway the biggest issue we had was with the technology cards. I had a Cruiser and an Arbiter going around together with the cloaking card in play and my mate complained that it was unfair because there was no way he could penetrate it as there isn't a detect card in the Zerg pack

Have I misread the rules, is it possible to destroy a cloaked ship without detect?

Can an Arbiter do anything without any tech cards in play?

Despite a few problems and taking ages to absorb the rules we both enjoyed it.

pasiro

pasiro said:

Yes, there are two possibilities:

1) during Resolve Splash Damage step - Cloaking may be resolved ONLY during resolving skirmishes (it's another step of the battle)

2) if Cloaked unit cannot withdraw - unlike during Retreat, unit which withrdaws must move to another friendly or empty area of the same planet, however, friendly areas may have insufficient unit limit (remember, you can't destroy voluntarily units during the battle), there can be also no empty areas available

pasiro said:

No. Science Vessel Is the only Assist unit which has something without researching (Detector).

pasiro said:

Queens gain Detector pernamently if you researched Parasite technology.

Air Support module offers Detector if there is a battle in the area with Zerg base.

Moreover, Esnare and Plague technology cards give the Detector ability in the skirmish.

Quite a lot, although other races have easier accesible Detector ability (they always can buy just one technology).

Usually it's not a problem for the Zerg, because most of experienced players use Zerg Assist units in each game. Especially Queens. It's hard to win for the Zerg player without their abilities.